Friday, August 25, 2017

Celtic Christianity series offered at Raymond Village Community Church by Jennifer Davis

Time
goes by so quickly, and it is so valuable to everyone. If time could just slow
down a little bit, we could sit back and truly enjoy what is right in front of us
every day.Raymond Village Community
Church U.C.C., located at 27 Main Street in Raymond, can help us learn to do
just that with a new Celtic Christianity Worship Series every Sunday at 10:00
a.m. with the last in the series ending on September 10.The best part, everyone is invited.

Celtic
Christianity refers to a part of Christianity that was common with the Celtic
speaking people during the

Early Middle Ages.The Celtic Christianity Worship Series is a way to bring back a part of
history.“For some, it is a
way to deepen their own spiritual lives. For others, it is a way to connect to
and learn more about their own Celtic roots,” states Rev. Nancy Foran, pastor
at Raymond Village Community Church U.C.C.“For others, it is a way to expand their understanding of Christianity.”

During
each service, those in attendance begin on a virtual tour through history with
pictures of the Celtic Lands, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. This is followed by
traditional Celtic melodies, prayers

and blessings, both modern and ancient.
This series is very exciting for Foran and her husband, Joe, as she has
Scottish ancestry and her husband is half Irish. Both Foran and her husband
traveled to Scotland on her first sabbatical. “Hiking part of the West Highland
Way and spending a week on the Island of Iona, a tiny ancient island off the
southwest coast of Scotland, also ignited my interest in Celtic traditions even
more,” says Foran.“I am intrigued by Celtic
spirituality because its major themes resonate with so much of what I hope the
Christian church can be today.”

The
Celtic Christianity series will continue for a total of five weeks.

Sunday,
August 13, was the first week of the series. Discussion included how the spirit
of Christ is all around us and how in Celtic Christianity from sunrise to
sunset, in every daily activity from work, to play, to rest, we can experience
God’s blessing.

Sunday,
August 20, was the second service and as part of this series, the lecture
examined the best way to notice the blessings in our lives, which is to delight
in the small things: how to slow down and see the beauty of life’s gifts.

This
coming Sunday, August 27, the topic will be how important time is as well as
the rhythms of life. The service on September 3, will discuss how we are a part
of God’s tapestry of humanity and the last service on September 10 will wrap up
the series and reflect on what it would mean to live our lives in blessedness
felt in the Celtic tradition. Foran states, “Losing that distinction between
the sacred and the secular, finding the holy in the small everyday events that
make up our lives, understanding the passage of time as cycles and rhythms
rather than as isolated, sequential events; and finding God in the natural
world are all ways that the modern church can be more authentic and perhaps
make clearer sense of the modern world.”

For
those interested in taking a walk through history and attending the Celtic
Series at the Raymond Village Community Church U.C.C., please join Foran and
the rest of the congregation. “I hope that this series can help
those who participate to live more intentionally and walk a bit more slowly
through their days, taking in all the blessings God has to offer in this world,”
Foran said.